Robinson was founded around the turn of the previous century, named after the Robinson family of southwestern Delaware County. Alexander Robinson, one prominent Robinson, built a farm 1.5 miles north of the townsite. William B. Robinson operated the Farmers Savings Bank of Robinson and the Robinson Lumber and Grain Company, circa 1914.[2] The Chicago, Anamosa and Northern Railroad (CAN) passed through Robinson, built in 1912 and proposed for electrification in 1916.[3] The CAN Railway was sold for scrap during World War II.